Just thought of writing this
*For all intent and purposes this post is strictly for catholic readers only, so that I dun need to explain why the situation is like that*
I have never doubted that most Catholics have a deep reverence for the Church. But it is also a known facts that there are many cases where Catholics (including people I know) find themselves stuck in a grey area (in legal field we called it the “penumbra” zone) whereby on one side of the coin they find themselves breaking Church laws and yet not finding a practical solution out of their “predicament”.
In my course of works, I came across stories to which I cannot decide whether the persons could have any alternative way of solving their problems (obviously i still have a lot to learn).
Here, I only intend to cite two stories (which I believe pretty common now) given by “The Pilgrim”.
*All names have been changed for obvious reason*
Case 1:
“I was very young when I got involved with this Catholic divorcee. Looking back, yes. I should have know better but I didn’t. The next thing I knew, I was married to this guy and had his baby. With the baby, there was no turning back for me.
I have been a devout Catholic all my life and not being able to receive Communion broke my heart. I never realized it could hurt that much. I had disobeyed Him but yet I still loved Him. I tried to be the best mother and wife I could be, make sacrifices, devotions, you name it, but the guilt and pain could never go away. The solution given by the Priests was to live as brother and sister but my husband said this was ridiculous and close to impossible unless we separated. I did consider leaving him but was I right to deprive my child of his father, a good father? Would two wrongs make a right?
I tried going to other churches, but it wasn’t the same. My heart was and is in the Catholic church.
Really, hell begins on earth when one believes that one has lost one’s God forever. In the end, it was God himself who called me home. He sent people, religious and lay to me, with messages of love, forgiveness and most of all, hope.
After so long being lost, I have come to terms with things and I feel that God has forgiven me because He knows how truly sorry I am. The irony is that people who can get married in Church don’t want to and those who can’t like me, want to. Those who can receive Communion don’t appreciate it and those who can’t, hunger for it, if only they knew what a treasure they had.
No. I still don’t receive communion, I guess I just love my God and his Church too much to offend either again. The Church doesn’t really know what to do with people like us, we live on the margins of the Church, neither fully in nor out. The Church has no real answers for us except annulments which is non-applicable most of the time.
We have to find our own way and God has to find other ways to bring us lost sheep back. My advice to young people out there is: Treasure your relationship with God beyond all else. A life without Him is not worth living. Don’t wait to be on the outside before you appreciate what you have on the inside.
To those in the same boat as I am, I say, don’t lose hope. God hasn’t given up on you and He never will.
Case 2:
Peter, a divorcee feels the pain of living in what the Church classifies as a “state of sin”, “If murderers can be forgiven, why can’t we be forgiven for having married the wrong person? Is it less sinful to stay married to someone you no longer love and may even hate? Or to sleep around? It’s not that I don’t love God, but I am only human”
Honestly, if you were to ask me, as I mentioned, I have not anwser to it, what I can do is only to pray for them. Perhaps there are some learned Priests, religious and lay out there who may have better advice/solutions/answers to their predicament.
Addendum:
If you were to reflect deeply about the two stories, you would wonder, why it hurts so much? It only hurt, or I would put it this way: the reason that these individuals are still caught in such predicament is because they chose to remain in the Catholic church in spite of the problem they are facing. The problem could have been easily solved if they join another faith or church where one might find the approval that they cannot find in the Catholic Church. But Why they don’t do that? The answer is pretty obvious and the common one i received is: “I still believe the Catholic church is the true church. It’s home, even if it doesn’t fell like it sometimes. The complete salvation is in the Catholic church. To be fair, I can’t deprive my children of their church, There’s no question of ever leaving it, no matter how difficult life is”.
I have never doubted that most Catholics have a deep reverence for the Church. But it is also a known facts that there are many cases where Catholics (including people I know) find themselves stuck in a grey area (in legal field we called it the “penumbra” zone) whereby on one side of the coin they find themselves breaking Church laws and yet not finding a practical solution out of their “predicament”.
In my course of works, I came across stories to which I cannot decide whether the persons could have any alternative way of solving their problems (obviously i still have a lot to learn).
Here, I only intend to cite two stories (which I believe pretty common now) given by “The Pilgrim”.
*All names have been changed for obvious reason*
Case 1:
“I was very young when I got involved with this Catholic divorcee. Looking back, yes. I should have know better but I didn’t. The next thing I knew, I was married to this guy and had his baby. With the baby, there was no turning back for me.
I have been a devout Catholic all my life and not being able to receive Communion broke my heart. I never realized it could hurt that much. I had disobeyed Him but yet I still loved Him. I tried to be the best mother and wife I could be, make sacrifices, devotions, you name it, but the guilt and pain could never go away. The solution given by the Priests was to live as brother and sister but my husband said this was ridiculous and close to impossible unless we separated. I did consider leaving him but was I right to deprive my child of his father, a good father? Would two wrongs make a right?
I tried going to other churches, but it wasn’t the same. My heart was and is in the Catholic church.
Really, hell begins on earth when one believes that one has lost one’s God forever. In the end, it was God himself who called me home. He sent people, religious and lay to me, with messages of love, forgiveness and most of all, hope.
After so long being lost, I have come to terms with things and I feel that God has forgiven me because He knows how truly sorry I am. The irony is that people who can get married in Church don’t want to and those who can’t like me, want to. Those who can receive Communion don’t appreciate it and those who can’t, hunger for it, if only they knew what a treasure they had.
No. I still don’t receive communion, I guess I just love my God and his Church too much to offend either again. The Church doesn’t really know what to do with people like us, we live on the margins of the Church, neither fully in nor out. The Church has no real answers for us except annulments which is non-applicable most of the time.
We have to find our own way and God has to find other ways to bring us lost sheep back. My advice to young people out there is: Treasure your relationship with God beyond all else. A life without Him is not worth living. Don’t wait to be on the outside before you appreciate what you have on the inside.
To those in the same boat as I am, I say, don’t lose hope. God hasn’t given up on you and He never will.
Case 2:
Peter, a divorcee feels the pain of living in what the Church classifies as a “state of sin”, “If murderers can be forgiven, why can’t we be forgiven for having married the wrong person? Is it less sinful to stay married to someone you no longer love and may even hate? Or to sleep around? It’s not that I don’t love God, but I am only human”
Honestly, if you were to ask me, as I mentioned, I have not anwser to it, what I can do is only to pray for them. Perhaps there are some learned Priests, religious and lay out there who may have better advice/solutions/answers to their predicament.
Addendum:
If you were to reflect deeply about the two stories, you would wonder, why it hurts so much? It only hurt, or I would put it this way: the reason that these individuals are still caught in such predicament is because they chose to remain in the Catholic church in spite of the problem they are facing. The problem could have been easily solved if they join another faith or church where one might find the approval that they cannot find in the Catholic Church. But Why they don’t do that? The answer is pretty obvious and the common one i received is: “I still believe the Catholic church is the true church. It’s home, even if it doesn’t fell like it sometimes. The complete salvation is in the Catholic church. To be fair, I can’t deprive my children of their church, There’s no question of ever leaving it, no matter how difficult life is”.
posted by AVATAR at 11:45 AM
1 Comments:
We all fall short of the glory of God. The only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ and accepting him as our saviour. Recieving communion is only a ritual - not the way to heaven. When we get to heaven - God (or St. Peter at the gate as some people may believe!) will not look at if you are Catholic or Baptist or Protestant - he will know if you accepted His son as saviour and he knows your heart and your redemption. That's all folks! No one should feel guilty for the rest of their lives. That is ridiculous. You are forgiven through Christ who died for you!
Post a Comment
<< Home